Samuel J. Palmisano (born July 30, 1951?)[1] is the current chairman, chief executive officer, and president of IBM, which as of 2009 was the largest IT company in the world and 45th largest company overall.[7] He was elected chairman in October 2002, effective January 1, 2003, and has served as CEO since March 2002. Before he became CEO, Palmisano was president and chief operating officer since 2000.
Palmisano joined IBM in 1973 as a salesman, and was elected senior vice president and group executive of the Personal Systems Group in 1997. He was then promoted to senior vice president and group executive of IBM Global Services in 1998, during the period when IBM shifted its focus from pure technology to embrace outsourcing and other services. He became senior vice president and group executive of Enterprise Systems in 1999 when the systems group drove IBM's move to adopt the Linux operating system.
Before leading IBM Global Services, Palmisano led the IBM strategic outsourcing business and before that he was president of an IBM subsidiary—Integrated Systems Solutions Corporation—which ultimately became IBM Global Services.[9] As CEO of IBM, Palmisano has shifted many development and support positions to emerging markets.[10]
He was elected to the board of ExxonMobil in 2006. He is also the Honorary Chairman of National Engineers Week 2008.
In November 2008, Palmisano, during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, outlined IBM's Smarter Planet initiative.[11]
While CEO of IBM in 2009, Samuel J. Palmisano earned a total compensation of $21,159,289, which included a base salary of $1,800,000, a cash bonus of $4,750,000, stocks granted of $13,517,401, no options, and other compensation of $1,091,888.[12] He does not plan to retire at age 60, as has been customary for IBM executives.[13]
In 2010 Samuel J. Palmisano was awarded The Deming Cup, an excellence award presented by the W. Edwards Deming Center for Quality, Productivity, and Competitiveness at Columbia Business School, for his ability to drive IBM to new levels of operational excellence and for his role in creating and leading IBM's Global Services business unit.[14]
